Fever
by UndeadFae
Summary: A sick Genda is a grumpy Genda. Good thing Sakuma is there for him.


"If you don't shut up right now I promise that you won't like where I'll shove those goddamn headphones."

One threat was all it took for absolute silence to fall over the team, each of them turning to face the source with varying degrees of shock and surprise. Narukami quickly snapped his mouth shut and inched away from the bench, looking a few shades paler than what should be deemed healthy, apparently praying that whatever higher being, universe or fate or some other bullshit up there could let the earth open and swallow him before the unexpected wrath of their goalkeeper could fall upon him.

Sakuma just glanced at Genda in confusion. With his god-sent patience, a bit of louder than usual chatter shouldn't bother him, unless... unsurprisingly, he found exactly what he expected to find: Genda was being quieter than usual, still in his (rumpled and messy) jersey, slumped on the bench and against the wall, eyes closed, cheeks flushed in a stark contrast against skin paler and sweaty, barely keeping himself awake.

Genda might have an inhuman amount of patience with their stupid teammates and people in general, but it all was thrown out of the window and into the nearest trashcan when he was sick. A grumpy and easily irked Genda was something no one in their right mind would want to deal with, and Sakuma wasn't keen on seeing him try to make true one of his threats again.

Just to confirm that it really was just some illness and not the end of Genda's tolerance and the world as they knew it, Sakuma walked up to him and pressed his hand against his forehead, ignoring the growls and weak attempts at swatting it away.

"What the fuck Koujirou, you're burning- why are you here instead of resting at home?" Despite his voice being barely loud enough to be heard, Genda still groaned and pressed a hand against his face, as if somehow that would be enough to make the pounding in his head finally stop.

"... 'm fine... shut up..."

"Yeah, right." With a roll of his eye, Sakuma took Genda's arm and slung it over his own shoulder, making sure to be able to support his weight before managing to get Genda on his feet- not without effort. He might be illegally pretty with his tall and muscular frame, but damn was he heavy. "Come on, you're going to the nurse and I'm not taking a no for an answer." Not like Genda even had the strength to resist in his current condition.

"Need help...?" Somehow, Narukami had found the courage to speak up again after the threat of unspeakable things. It was probably because by now Genda looked ready to drop and not get up for a day. Sakuma just shook his head.

"We'll be fine, you guys just go on with practice." After some hesitation, the team decided to trust him with their keeper and move on with their routine. With everything there in order, Sakuma finally started dragging Genda out and to the nurse.

This was going to be a long day.

After yet another confirmation of a nasty fever and some fussing and arguing, Sakuma convinced the nurse to let him take Genda home under orders of strict rest and some god-awful medicine Sakuma would gladly live without.

As much as he hated all the hospital visits since he was a child, he couldn't deny that they did give him some valuable knowledge on taking care of a sick person. Part of it may or may not be his own fault for being a horrible patient and having the nurses regularly called on him like guard dogs. Still.

By the time Sakuma managed to get Genda back to his home and into his room, he was desperately trying to keep his eyes open- to no avail. He was out cold as soon as they stepped into the house, as if that was all it took for his body to stop fighting and just give in to exhaustion. At least dragging him into his bed wasn't as hard as hauling him through half of the school building.

Genda curled up in his sleep as soon as he touched the bed. Then, Sakuma realized he forgot one tiny detail. Sleeping in a sweaty jersey didn't exactly sound appealing, but Sakuma didn't find the thought of changing his unconscious boyfriend's clothes too attractive either. After a heated internal debate, Sakuma settled for taking off shoes and sweater, leaving him in his sweatpants and shirt before tucking him under the blanket. At least he looked more comfortable than before. Once he was sure that Genda was sleeping soundly and wouldn't wake up any time soon, Sakuma quietly left the room and headed to the kitchen.

For a while, the only sound breaking the silence was the metallic clank of pots and tools, occasionally interrupted by knives crudely chopping some veggies and broth boiling on the stove. Sakuma might not be the best cook, but he could manage just fine when it came to something as simple as a soup (or so he hoped), especially if it was to help his sick boyfriend. Once every few minutes, he would drop whatever he was doing to go check on Genda, making sure he was still sleeping peacefully and wasn't getting any worse before going back to cooking, grateful that the cats somehow seemed to understand that their owner needed to rest and stuck to the kitchen instead, even if they kept meowing and pawing at him and he had to watch his steps to not walk all over them.

While he was going through the fridge and vaguely trying to recall the rest of the recipe, a hoarse whisper snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Jirou...?" Genda was standing in the kitchen's entry, looking dazed and tired, leaning on the door frame with one arm while his other hand weakly tried to nurse his headache.

"What are you doing out of the bed, you dumbass?" After making sure the stove was properly turned off (accidentally setting off a fire alarm once was more than enough, thank you very much), Sakuma rushed at his side, fearing he might actually collapse right there and then. "You should be resting- not walking around! Come on, I'm taking you back to your room." With his free hand he reached up to touch Genda's forehead, frowning when he still felt it just as hot as a few hours ago. At least it didn't get any worse, small relief.

"... You brought me home...?" Sakuma had to try very hard and remind himself that his boyfriend was too sick to think straight just so he could hold back an overly sarcastic answer.

"What did you expect me to do, let you stay in school with a fever? You were barely conscious in the nurse's office." At least this time Genda was awake enough to walk on his own, albeit with Sakuma's help. "Anyway, how are you feeling?" Genda weakly glared at him, as if he couldn't quite believe the question.

"... Like shit..." Whatever else he might have tried to say was cut off by a sudden and quite nasty coughing fit. Sakuma inwardly cursed and guided him to the nearest chair, rushing to get the first glass he could find and filling it with fresh water.

"Alright, drink up and breathe." Genda quickly accepted and emptied the glass, leaving it on the table with a sigh before resting his head on his arm, dangerously close to falling asleep right there and then. Before he could ungracefully face plant on the table, Sakuma pushed a bowl in front of him. "Here- eat something before you go back to sleep, you need it." For a moment, he just blinked unsurely at the warm plate in front of him. Sakuma preferred to think he was just slightly delirious from the fever than to blame it on his cooking skills and quickly moved onto washing the remaining dirty plates. No, he absolutely wasn't nervous, especially not after remembering how little he cooked for his boyfriend with the small faith he had in his own cooking skills. He was perfectly fine, really.

He definitely wasn't surprised when he glanced at the table and saw Genda slowly drinking his soup, savoring it with a faint smile on his tired face.

"... Thank you."

"I-it's nothing, just hurry and finish so you can go back to bed."

A few minutes and an awful concoction from hell later ("It's just medicine, Jirou..."), Genda was being dragged back into his bed and once again tucked under the blanket. When he started dozing off, Sakuma stood up to leave the room, trying to recall what else he had to do, when a weak grip on his hand stopped him on his tracks. Genda was clinging to his hand, the silent plead in his eyes enough to ask him to stay even without words.

"... Alright." It would be easy to slip out of the usually strong grasp, now weak like a kitten's bite, but Sakuma quickly found out he didn't want to. Pulling the chair in the bedroom closer to sit down and watch over him was all it took to let Genda relax and fall asleep. Once he was sure Genda wouldn't wake up again any time soon, Sakuma brushed aside the bangs sticking to his forehead and gently pressed his hand against it. He was still warmer than usual, but at least he seemed to be getting better. With a quiet sigh, Sakuma settled for gently running his fingers through the dark strands. "Sleep well..."

He wasn't sure how much time passed when he heard the house's door opening, followed by the voices of Genda's parents. A bit reluctantly, Sakuma slipped his hand out of Genda's grasp, looking away when he saw his lips twisting into a frown in his sleep.

"Uh, hello..." Somehow, he still managed to be somewhat nervous in front of his boyfriend's parents, even when it's been years since he first met them.

"Oh- hello, dear! Koujirou didn't tell me you were coming over!" Not like Genda really needed to warn them, he was already told multiple times to come over whenever he wanted. It wasn't unusual to find them hanging out in one of their rooms after practice.

"Yeah, about that..." Believe it or not, he wasn't actually planning on coming that day unless Genda asked. He did overstay his welcome quite a few times lately. "Koujirou had a fever so I brought him back from school early. I didn't want to leave him alone, so I stayed to make sure he would be alright."

Unsurprisingly, she didn't look happy at all with the news. Genda seriously had to be grateful for his mom's kind soul in moments like these, or else even his fever wouldn't be enough to save him from his recklessness.

After some small talk that turned out way more awkward than he would've liked, Sakuma politely excused himself and headed towards Genda's room to fetch his bag and go home. Genda was still fast asleep and comfortably snuggled into his bed, his illness doing little to change his sleeping habits. If anything, he turned into an even heavier sleeper than usual. At least now Sakuma knew that he would likely sleep through the night -and probably the morning- just fine.

With his bag slung over his shoulder, he almost turned and left, only stopping to glance at the sleeping figure. After a bit of internal debate, Sakuma quietly walked up to the bed, leaning down to gently kiss his forehead. If he let it linger for a bit longer than usual, he blamed it on his worry.

"Good night, idiot... I love you." With that, he all but rushed out of the room, bidding a quick goodbye to Genda's parents before running back home.

Unfortunately, missing a school day to take care of his sick boyfriend wasn't a valid enough reason to be excused from homework and more school days, which meant that the next day, one grumbling Sakuma Jirou was making his way to the school. Genda had reassured him over the phone that he was already doing better despite being still confined to his room, but not being able to go check on him yet didn't really help much. That and not seeing him for the whole school day. No one was surprised when his mood lightened up as soon as the afternoon practice was over, hastily taking his bag and rushing out without even changing his uniform.

Unsurprisingly, Genda's mother invited him in as soon as he knocked on the door, thanking him profusely for all his help before ushering him towards Genda's room. When he walked in, Genda was sitting up in his bed, still looking a bit tired, but definitely better than the day before. Once his eyes landed on Sakuma, he smiled, warm and bright.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Pulling the chair closer to the bed, Sakuma sat down next to him, placing a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek.

"Now that you're here? Better." Genda quietly chuckled when he saw his cheeks tinted red. "Well, to be honest I still have a bit of a headache, but I'm doing better than yesterday. Thanks to you."

"I-it was nothing, really- it's not like I could just leave you alone, you were pretty much unconscious when we came back from school." Not something he was too keen on recalling. Then, he frowned. "Speaking of which- why did you come if you were so sick?" Genda sheepishly grinned, running a hand through messy hair and wincing when his fingers got tangled into the knots. Being so out of it for a day really didn't help him.

"In my defense, it wasn't that bad when I woke up yesterday." Sakuma glared. "I'm serious! It was just a bit of a cold, it wasn't that bad... But wait... Did you skip school just for me?" He shrugged, not really considering it a big deal.

"Well, there was no one else to take care of you, what else was I supposed to do?" Genda was still frowning, unconvinced. "Hey, it's not a big deal, really- it was just one day, don't worry about it. I'd very much rather be here and make sure you're ok than go to school." Not like he was ever that happy about going to school, excellent grades or not.

"Alright, if you say so..." Arguing was useless anyway, it would only give him a worse headache and then Sakuma would be fussing and worried over him. "And how was school today?"

"Boring, what else did you expect? And then the team was scared shitless when you didn't come today, took me a good while to calm them down and tell them it was nothing." Not like they could blame them for the worry, after the Zeus and Shin Teikoku ordeals it was hard not to fret over the smallest things. They wouldn't be getting over that any time soon, if ever.

The rest of the afternoon was spent between idle chatter and the occasional surprise kiss. Even with Genda still bedridden, they both enjoyed the time spent together. When the time came for Sakuma to head home, Genda's mood was almost sour. Being confined to his bed got annoying pretty quickly once he wasn't out cold.

"You could always stay over, you know?"

"Yeah, but you still need to rest." Genda grumbled in answer. Sakuma just rolled his eye, barely suppressing a chuckle. "Come on, don't make that face- if you still can't leave tomorrow I'll come back after practice."

"Promise?"

"Promise." That seemed to be enough to get a tiny smile out of him. Satisfied, Sakuma stood up, ready to leave. "Then I'll see you tomorrow."

Before he could walk away, Genda grabbed his wrist and gently pulled him closer.

"Thanks for taking care of me." He whispered against his lips. "I love you." Sakuma smiled, returning the kiss. Even with all the worries and fears after everything they've gone through, he wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

"I love you too."


End file.
